Calling it curtains, with photos

Woo-hoo!  N-son's curtains are finished.  I'm really pleased with the way they came out (although it remains to see how well the curtains survive my active and, um, creative teenage boys).

Step 1:  Measure out panels that are as long as the window, but more than half as wide.  We laid the wrong side of the sheet on a heavy white flannel sheet, pinned, and trimmed.

Step 2:  Sew the black panel to the white panel, leaving a small hole so we can trim corners and turn the whole thing right side out.

Here is one panel, right side out.  As you can see from the tension rod above, it's slightly wider than half the width of the window.

Step 3:  Overlap two panels.  Add another piece of matching fabric as the channel for the tension rod.  Sew this piece on.  As I did this, I added small black loops out of spare shoe laces toward the outside top edges of the curtains.

Step 4:  Add small hooks about 2/3 of the way down, to the middle of each curtain.  These are hooks I salvaged from defunct backpacks and other bags.  They blend in so well with the black fabric that they're hard to see in the picture below, so I added some labels.

What's the hook for, you wonder?  Well, if you attach the hook to the loop . . . 

. . . then the curtains open up like this.  I think this looks pretty nice, actually.  

Since most of the materials were scrounged, the total cost for three sets of these insulated curtains was $3.99 -- the cost of a white flannel sheet from our local thrift store.  And because I used the flat sheets that my son doesn't ever keep on his bed, this actually matches his bed set -- now that is unusual in our home.  Woo-hoo!  As I said, I'm pleased.


Next up are the curtains in C-son's room.  They're currently make-shift, to say the least.  For example, here's the morning sun trying hard to shine in an east-facing window.  Yes, the curtain is just a folded flannel sheet, hanging in the window.  Not really pretty, but enough to keep the sun from making things too miserable.  We'll have some sewing time together in late July, and we'll get to make him red curtains -- his favorite color.  Can't wait to see my son's room turn into a bordello!